


The Thief and His (Former) Master

by 1shinymess (magpie4shinies)



Category: Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-26
Updated: 2012-12-26
Packaged: 2017-11-22 11:35:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/609395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magpie4shinies/pseuds/1shinymess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A revision of The Thief and His Master with a more sympathetic fate for the Master Thief.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Thief and His (Former) Master

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gryvon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gryvon/gifts).



The Thief and His Master 

Henry was nearly seventeen on the day of his greatest despair, for the blacksmith who had promised to apprentice him when he was strong enough to manage the heavy loads had died unexpectedly of some sickness, and had spent all of the money his father had had to pay him in order to secure his apprenticeship without giving Henry a single lesson, nor making any arrangements.

“My son, I must away to pray,” his father said, wiping an old rag over his tired brow. “You know that the smith who should have been your master has left us with nothing and you with no trade.”

“I know, Father,” Henry murmured, ducking his head, for he was shamed to be a burden, and then his father left to pray to God for an answer.

~

_My son, you are to learn thieving. The Lord God has told me so._

~

Apprenticeship to Master Aaron was interesting to the boy. Henry learned many things under him, both mundane and magical, than he had never realized existed in the world.

Master Aaron was a tall, dark man with a strong nose and black hair that gleamed brown in the sun and curled gently at his temples. He taught Henry, fair-haired himself, a simple spell that pulled the life from a thing and gave its color to his hair. And for when they plied their trade on Holy ground, he taught Henry to smudge the brightness from his hair with ash and cover it with rags, for their magic was not always predictable on consecrated land.

Henry wondered at the path the Lord God had set him down on, but during the year of his apprenticeship, Master Aaron had never required him to steal from an honest clergy or the poor, and so his conscience was quickly content, and so the year passed quickly. Henry studied hard, and learned other spells, less simple than the one that called color to his hair. 

He learned how to muffle his footsteps and whisper locks upon. He learned how to throw his voice and lay a sleep on a wary mark. And finally, the night before his father was to come to him, Master Aaron took him aside and taught him to change his shape.

As a mouse, Henry was lifted before Master Aaron's dark brown eyes, and his Master spoke. “Your apprenticeship which I agreed upon with your father is over, and I mark it resolved one way or another in the morning. You will take yourself to his path in this or another shape and we shall see if he is not satisfied.”

For the first time in his apprenticeship, Henry thought he could hear a flicker of uncertainty in his Master's otherwise deep and certain voice, and curled his tail around his thumb in comfort. 

Master Aaron's dark expression softened faintly. “Your apprenticeship is done, and yet I know there is more you wish to learn. You know what I speak of.”

And Henry, to his shame, knew that Master Aaron had caught his selfish appreciation over the year that they had lived together; for Henry found, far over the sway of the tavern wench's hips or the soft cream of their bared breasts, he preferred to watch the clever fingers of his master's hands charming a door to open silently. 

His master had seen those things in his eyes, though he had tried to drive the selfish longing from his mind, and Henry could only shrink in shame.

But Master Aaron was not upset. “Shh, little mouse. There is more I would teach you, if you were truly of a mind to learn. Once I am no longer truly your master, we must meet three times: if you can overcome me thrice, then I will show you what I mean. Do you understand?”

And Henry took his own form once more, standing before his master, and there was silence between them as he realized that there were only a few fingers difference between their heights now, and that there must have been twice that when he came to him. 

And then Henry nodded.

~

The first challenge was set almost immediately upon leaving Master Aaron's house with his father the day the apprenticeship ended, for Henry could sense Aaron's approach in disguise. He thought for a moment, and knew what he would do, and he turned to his father.

“ _I will change myself into a large greyhound, and then you can earn a great deal of money by me._ ”

When his former master approached in the carriage, Henry sat while they negotiated a handsome payment for him, and then allowed himself to be called into the carriage.

Henry sat with his head on Aaron's knee for several minutes while he unraveled the spells trapping the carriage, and then, with some reluctance, he pulled away from the gentle hand in his fur and leaped from the window of the carriage, and took himself away. 

~

The second challenge occurred the following day. Henry spoke to his father of a fair he knew of, and he said to his father, who had already gotten an appreciation for the money Henry could bring him, “ _I will now change myself into a beautiful horse, and you can sell me. But when you have sold me, you must take off my bridle, or I cannot become a man again._ ”

And his father understood, and this is what they did.

The master thief Aaron approached them immediately, and it was all Henry can do not to nicker in greeting, for it had been a year since he had spent so much time away from him, but in the end his cover was not broken.

As Aaron negotiated a price with Henry's father, he threaded a calming hand into Henry's mane, and it was almost enough to distract Henry from his father's carelessness when he forgot to remove the bridle.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to remind his father of his promise, for he was a horse. And so, with some sadness, Henry turned back to Aaron.

Aaron did not ride him home, and Henry could only be grateful though they received some odd looks from the villagers as they made the walk back to Aaron's house side by side.

Aaron hesitated in the stable before he put Henry into a stall like a true horse. And then, before he left the stable, he looked back at Henry for a long moment. Finally he withdrew, leaving Henry perplexed and caught until a maid crossed the threshold of the stall with a half-bale of hay.

Henry took heart, and knelt before her. “ _Take off my bridle, take off my bridle._ ”

The maid froze stiff for a moment and then, with eyes gone wide, whispered, “What? Can you speak?” And she took off his bridle.

Aaron was returning then, and Henry swiftly became a sparrow and flies out of the door before the maid's startled eyes.

~

The third and final challenge is immediate, then, for Henry felt Aaron follow after him and then there was another sparrow, identical to him, and Henry understood that this final battle must occur without the guile of trickery beyond that of their shapes, and he turned himself to the fight.

They clashed with shrieks once, twice, thrice – and then Henry managed through luck and skill to spin Aaron around in flight and buffet him with his wings, and send him stunned to the earth. 

_I have won three challenges, master,_ Henry thought, and watched long enough to see his master become a man once more, and then Henry flew home.

~

One year and three days after an old man had struck a somewhat foolish bargain with a master thief, a slightly wiser and much younger man knocks at the master thief's door.

Aaron opens it and his face bears a true smile. “Have you come for more lessons after all, little mouse?”

“I have come for more lessons,” Henry agreed, and held up a bag that contained the money his father had taken from his master during the challenges. “But you must know that I am a thief.”

His master's eyes grew warm and wrinkled with a secret laugh. “Indeed? And have you stolen that, then?” 

Henry nodded solemnly. “I have, sir. I helped my father steal it from a man who took me in and taught me all I know of thieving, and only wished to instruct me further in things I would know. So I have brought it back.”

Aaron laid a hand on Henry's shoulder and drew him in. “I'm not entirely certain your master did such a good job, little mouse. Thieves should keep what they steal.”

Henry's eyes gleamed with his purpose. “I have my sights set higher than this paltry sum, master.”

“Oh?” Aaron eyed him thoughtfully for a moment before the smile tucked into the corners of his mouth grew, and his eyes warmed further. “Perhaps your master taught you well, after all.”

Henry smiled up at him. “I suppose we'll find out, master.”


End file.
